Client Gate – A Door which is Always Open The transactional gateway accessible via the Hungarian e-government portal, Client Gate allows users to securely identify themselves online and gain access to any available transactional e-government services even in lack of electronic signature. Acceleration of users’ take up with the help of a simple identification system was the main reason for launching it in 2005. Client Gate is a shared service offered by the Centre for Electronic Public Services of the Prime Minister’s Office in order to save the public administration institutions from setting up expensive identification systems of their own. Client Gate also embodies the notion of One-Stop-Gov because, by entering through this virtual gate, the users will have access to any e-government services. Client Gate is free of charge both for clients and public administration, and this fact induces replacement of the traditional way of case handling with electronic solutions. It is an effective tool for reaching the point of return of e-governmental investment because this user friendly way of identification has pushed exponentially growing number of clients toward e-solutions. It may be reached at http://www.magyarorszag.hu/ugyfelkapu The objective is to provide citizens with a single transparent procedural regime in the electronic public administration system. This single harmonised regime is implemented on the internet by the Client Gate as a ‘one-stop shop’, more exactly in a ‘Single Sign-On’ (SSO) fashion. Once a citizen has created his/her personal customer Client Gate, it allows him or her to use electronic services provided by the various public administration organisations through the Government Portal. A single login (or session) gives access to all existing e-services. Any entity irrelevant of its legal status can use the Client Gate (natural persons, legal entities, civil servants) but from the pure technical point of view the users are all natural persons for the Client Gate. As the first services fully available electronically were of G2B character (e.g. declaration to the Tax Authority) and the first users of Client Gate were the representatives of business entities. At the beginning, e-declaration to the Tax Authority was mandatory for the larger companies, consequently their representatives have become the first users of Client Gate. The fact that since January 2007 each business entity is obliged to declare its tax electronically has increased dramatically the number of Client Gate users.
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When SMEs were also involved to the circle of e-tax payer’s intermediaries, namely accountants, bookkeepers have also become important users of Client Gate. The number of Client Gate users is inferior to that of the companies because intermediaries usually represent more than one client. Regarding the citizens the use of electronic services is not compulsory. Nevertheless more and more citizens realize the benefits of paper free case handling. The pioneers among them were those citizens who have experienced the advantages of e-government services in their professional life. Client Gate gives also chance for the multi channel access to public administration services. For the time being Hungarians prefer the face-to-face case handling but more and more of the citizens having Client Gate registration book date via internet for visiting the documentary offices. After two years in service, in the 1st Q of 2007 there were more than 500 000 registered users of Client Gate. (See Figure 1) This number represents 12 percent of the active population, 20 percent of the internet users, but 100 percent of the enterprises. Number of CGI registered users
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Figure 1. The Hungarian government portal (www.magyarorszag.hu), where the Client Gate is operating, is in the middle range by the daily page views compared to other European government’s sites (data from alexa.com). In the 1st Q of 2007 there were short periods when Client Gate had the utmost results, better then France, Germany and Italy. (See figure 2)
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Figure 2. Service providers behind the ClienGate
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Figure 3. The Client Gate service, paid by the government, gives free electronic ID service for the citizens and public administration. This service is realised as a crucial and valuable device, having a positive impact on the growth of Internet penetration as
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well. Valuable, because reaching a critical mass of users is a dominant step in the development of e-government services, which will demonstrate improved cost effectiveness in the operation of the state, the cutting of processing times in public administration and the constant improvement of the standards of service to the taxpayer. By providing the Client Gate service free of charge to both central and local authorities, the Prime Minister’s Office created a good environment to concentrate public e-services at one place, heading towards the so-called One Stop Government. The Client Gate is an enabler of electronic public administration transactions and electronic services in several ways. First, it is a common infrastructure ready to be implemented in any public e-service that requires secure identification of its users. Second, identification has been made possible even for customers who do not have electronic signatures. Third, introduction of the Client Gate as a shared service represented the first significant motivation (in some cases an obligation) for Hungarian public authorities to collaborate in the field of e-government, possibly paving the way to the more advanced domains of interoperability. Impacts and results The goal was to create an easy access personal customer gateway widely enabling the usage of electronic services provided by the various public administration organisations. Along with the advance in Client Gate development and take-up, the Hungarian government improved its e-services, providing greater access and inclusion to citizens. Innovative approaches to e-inclusion were evident in areas such as ehealth, e-learning, or custom e-government applications. Among others, Hungary improved its score on the indicator “Fully Available Online” from 15 in Oct. 2004 to 50 in Apr. 2006. (Capgemini: Web Based Survey on Electronic Public Services Report of the 6th Measurement June 2006). The improved performance is worth mentioning. Hungary continues to improve its online presence and in 2007 has reached the 34th position on web assessment global e-government readiness ranking (UN Global Egovernment Readiness Report 2007). The key to its success lies in the steady progress made each year. While sites have been added and remodelled, Hungary has never lost the commitment to continuous improvements across its government sites. Instead, the country illustrates the value of long-term planning and dedication by enhancing its presence, site-by-site, and feature-by-feature. The Hungarian government portal http://www.magyarorszag.hu is a good example. It has continually refined itself to become at par with some of the best national sites in the world. In addition to covering virtually all “basic” information and services, the site also features complete transaction and payment capabilities, online submission of forms, as well as a discussion forum and the ability to provide feedback on policies and activities. (see figures 4.) The number of visitors of the Government Portal (http://www.magyarorszag.hu) has been increasing exponentially: 2003- 0,08M, 2004- 0,2M, 2005-0,3M, 2006-0,7M, 2007Q1-1,3M (year-visitors) Page 4 of 9
Figure 4. More and more service providers are implementing true transactional capabilities and are offering a strong network presence behind the Client Gate. Notably, all ministries and many public service providers are involved in an open-ended discussion forum. Therefore the improvement of the statistics of the Client Gate usage is more and more impressive (users by years): 2005- 50‘000, 2006- 300‘000, 2007Q1- 500‘000 (see figure 1). As to the impact measurement, we applied eGEP methodologies and expert estimations when calculated benefits of Client Gate for citizens and businesses. We took into account the average saving opportunities per transaction, its frequency and the opportunity cost of the use of electronic signature. Circumventing the need for an extended electronic signature infrastructure provides for citizens’ earlier integration into e-governance and the information society in general. Client Gate -penetration (per cent, the number of registered Client Gate users divided by total population) and the number of downloaded pages and visitors of the Government Portal are not independent from each other. Client Gate -penetration stood at 5per cent in 2007Q1 and grew exponentially from 2005Q2. According to expert estimations due to cultural factors, exponential increase in Client Gate penetration in Hungary might be expected to peak at around 10-12per cent in October 2008, based on the trend experienced from April 2005. Calculating with HUF 50,000 (approx. EUR 200) as an average usage fee of the certificate till 2007Q1, savings from circumventing electronic signature infrastructure for the registered Client Gate users amounted to HUF 25,870 million (approx. EUR
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103 million). Besides, use of electronic services also generates savings in postal and paper costs. According to expert estimations an average firm (which is obliged by law to transfer its tax returns electronically) has to submit around 25 tax returns per year. Counting with an average cost of HUF 250 (approx. EUR 1) per obtaining a form and another HUF 250 per sending a form, an average firm saves HUF 12,500 (approx. EUR 50) a year by doing its returns electronically through the Client Gate. Regarding all corporations and unincorporated enterprises, total savings may amount to HUF 14.8 billion (approx. EUR 59 million). As to the citizens who are not obliged to send their income tax return electronically, potential savings may reach HUF 5 billion (approx. EUR 20 million). Besides tax declaration, there are other services, which are widely used. This is one of the most frequent action through the Clint Gate to report about new employees. A main driving force behind this activity is certainly the fact, that in Hungary, this is obligatory to inform Authorities, when a new employee enters a company within 24 hours. Naturally, the most simple and fastest way is to surrend those data in an electronic way. An other frequently used service is those regarding to social security contributions. Each Hungarian subject has the possibility to inquire about whether or not theirs employers pay social security contributions for them. They can also inquire about the amount the government has already spent on their very health cures in the past. Concerning the budgetary sphere, Client Gate is a state-of-the-art communication channel towards citizens and businesses, which enables the government to reach higher satisfaction among its clients, as Client Gate provides high quality, creditable and rapid communication between government and citizens/businesses. The rapid user take-up of the Client Gate demonstrates that easy-to-use, wellintegrated and relevant transactional services can motivate the population to use the e-services provided by the public sector. Reaching a critical level of utilization of egovernment solutions will lead to more efficient benefit realisation on national level. E-Government will become a savings centre rather than a cost centre for the public administration. (see Figure 1.) Novelties Client Gate is a new identification method allowing the use of electronic public administration transactions and electronic services even by customers who do not have electronic signatures. Client Gate has a public, standardized interface description to help public service providers to join easily. Providing the Client Gate service free of charge to the public administration and to local authorities, the Prime Minister’s office created a good environment to concentrate public e-services at one place, heading towards the so-called One Stop Government. PR and Marketing
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This is the Electronic Government Centre at the Pime Minister’s Office, that holds responsibility for making Client Gate widely known in the public – so its PR- and Marketing, in short. We have worked with traditional PR means, such as: ▪ Press Conference on the day when the Client Gate started to operate ▪ Press Release about the Client Gate’s services, when they first became available ▪ Press Programmes relating to electronic services Marketing instruments we have used were of the following kind: ▪ Advertisements: TCR film broadcasted in televion, radio ad spots and advertisements in the biggest daily, weekly and monthly newspapers ▪ Freecards at the biggest Hungarian programme leaflet’s (estMédia) surfaces: 40 cities, 1.700 locations, 6.500 other instruments (in the capital - Budapest – and other biggest cities countrywide). ▪ Client Gate ad spots on the INFOSCREEN network at 20 different places, including 6 metro stations. ▪ Client Gate ad spots at 124 Post Offices, 100 petrol stations (MOL) and 10 in the Media Markt−Plazmamédia network, which embraces the biggest malls in the capital and the countryside ▪ Information booklets at administrative offices, including the Tax Authorities’ sub-offices: 300.000 copies when it started the operation and an other 450 000 along with the newer services’ launching. Influenced other initiatives ClintGate is a shared service offered by the Centre for Electronic Public Services of the Prime Minister’s Office to the institutions of central state administration. Having resort to Client Gate is compulsory for them but it is also allowed to the local governments as well as any other public institutions to use it in order to save the costs of developing their own users’ identification system. The experience of the central administration has proven to be a good practice for local governments and non-profit organizations encouraging them to join Client Gate. The most recent development is that as a first in Hungary, the local eGovernment system of a small Hungarian town, Hódmezıvásárhely has been linked up with Client Gate. The success of this link-up is expected to upgrade the interest of other towns in joining this system, which might be assisted by the use of funds of Hungary’s Economic Competitiveness Operative Programme – as it was the case of Hódmezıvásárhely.
Appendix The list of 75 public service providers Adó és Pénzügyi Ellenırzési Hivatal (government) Baja Város Önkormányzata (local authority) Bakonyi Önkormányzatok Szövetsége, Területfejlesztési Társulása (local authority) Bátonyterenye Város Önkormányzata (local authority) Békéscsaba MJV Önkormányzata (local authority) Belügyminisztérium Központi Adatfeldolgozó, Nyilvántartó és Választási Hivatal (government) Budaörs Város Önkormányzata (local authority)
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Budapest Fıváros XI. Kerület Önkormányzata (local authority) Budapest Fıváros XIII. Kerület Önkormányzata (local authority) Budapest Hegyvidék XII. Kerület Önkormányzata (local authority) Budapest IX. Kerület Önkormányzat (local authority) Budapest XVIII. Kerület Pestszentlırinc-Pestszentimre Budapest-Csepel Önkormányzata (local authority) Budapest-Zugló Önkormányzata (local authority) Budavári Önkormányzat (local authority) Debrecen MJV Önkormányzata (local authority) Dunakanyar Pilisi Önkormányzatok Területfejlesztési Társulása (local authority) Educatio Társadalmi Szolgáltató Kht. (government) Eger MJV Önkormányzata (local authority) Egészségügyi Minisztérium (government) Érd MJV Önkormányzata (local authority) Esztergom Város Önkormányzata (local authority) Foglalkoztatási Hivatal (government) Földmővelésügyi és Vidékfejlesztési Minisztérium (government) Fıpolgármesteri Hivatal (government) Gazdasági és Közlekedési Minisztérium (government) Geoview Kft. (government) Gyömrı Város Önkormányzata (local authority) Gyöngyös Város Önkormányzata (local authority) Gyır MJV Önkormányzata (local authority) Gyula Város Önkormányzata (local authority) Határırség Országos Parancsnokság (government) HEFOP 4.4 (Három régiót érintı egészségügyi projekt) Hódmezıvásárhely Megyei Jogú Város Önkormányzata (local authority) Homokháti Önkormányzatok Kistérségfejlesztési Társulása (local authority) Igazságügyi Minisztérium (government) Kecskemét MJV Önkormányzata (local authority) Kincstári Vagyoni Igazgatóság (government) Kisbéri Többcélú Kistérségi Társulás (local authority) Környezetvédelmi és Vízügyi Minisztérium (government) KÖTÖNY Területfejlesztési Önkormányzati Társulás Közlekedési Fıfelügyelet (government) Központi Statisztikai Hivatal (government) Központi Szolgáltatási Fıigazgatóság (government) Magyar Államkincstár (government) Magyar Kereskedelmi Engedélyezési Hivatal (government) Magyar Szabadalmi Hivatal (government) Marcali Városi Önkormányzat (local authority) Miskolc MJV Önkormányzata (local authority) Mórahalom Város Polgármesteri Hivatala (local authority) Nagykanizsa MJV Önkormányzata (local authority) Nyíregyháza MJV Önkormányzata (local authority) Nyugat-Hajdúsági Település- és Területfejlesztési Önkormányzati Társulás (local authority) Országos Egészségbiztosítási Pénztár (government) Országos Lakás és Építésügyi Hivatal (government) Országos Nyugdíjbiztosítási Fıigazgatóság (government) Országos Rendır Fıkapitányság (government) Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár (government) Pécs MJV Önkormányzata (local authority) Remeteszılıs Község Önkormányzata (local authority) Sajó-Hernádvölgyi és Bükkvidéki Önkormányzatok Terület- és Településfejlesztési Társulása (local authority) Szeged Megyei Jogú Város Önkormányzata (local authority) Székesfehérvár MJV Önkormányzata (local authority) Szekszárd MJV Önkormányzata (local authority) Szentgotthárd Város és Térsége Területfejlesztési Önkormányzati Társulás (local authority) Szolnok MJV Önkormányzata (local authority)
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Szombathely MJV Önkormányzata (local authority) Tápiómenti Területfejlesztési Társulás (local authority) Tatabánya MJV Önkormányzata (local authority) Tokaj Város Önkormányzata (local authority) Vám- és Pénzügyırség Országos Parancsnoksága (government) Veszprém MJV Önkormányzata (local authority) Zalaegerszeg MJV Önkormányzata (local authority) Zengıalja Kistérségi Területfejlesztési Társulás (local authority)
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